Jocelyn Pook’s Hearing Voices was commissioned by BBC3 for the BBC Concert Orchestra who gave the first performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall London on 3 December 2012 with Melanie Pappenheim mezzosoprano conducted by Charles Hazlewood.The text for Hearing Voices was written by Emma Bernard. It also uses the words of artists Bobby Baker and Julie McNamara Jocelyn's relatives PhyllisWilliams and Mary Pook and the seamstress Agnes Richter inmate in a German asylum in the 1890s who covered her straightjacket with densely embroidered text. Instrumentation:2 Flutes (I/Alto II/Piccolo)2 Oboes (II/Cor Anglais)2 Clarinets (II/Bass Clarinet)2 Bassoons (II/Contrabassoon)4 Horns2 Trumpets3 TrombonesTubaTimpaniPercussion (2 players):Hi-Hat Cymbals Splash Cymbal Sleigh Bells Side Drum Bass Drum Temple Blocks Crotales Glockenspiel Vibraphone Xylophone Tubular BellsHarpSampler (recorded voices)StringsSolo mezzo-sopranoDuration: circa 35 minutes

The full score for this large work for Orchestra Mezzo-Soprano soloist and chorus was written in 1999 as part of the New York Philharmonic's Millenium commission. Characteristic of Ades the Orchestral writing is dense and challenging set against an unusual and startling vibrato-less solo voice. As the title suggests the work gained further significance since the turn of the Millenium. However from a musical perspective the score represents a significant example of 21st Century Orchestral composition.